


a moment, a love

by lilabut



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Light Angst, Meet-Cute, Mild Language, One Shot, Trapped In Elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 13:58:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16220513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilabut/pseuds/lilabut
Summary: “Don't tell me we're stuck,” the woman exhales, knuckles white where she has her fingers curled around the rail.It's the last thing he wants to admit, but there's no other option.“Seems like it.”“Fantastic,” she groans, reaching out the press the red alarm bell.Nothing happens.





	a moment, a love

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a silly little something I wrote to fight my writer's block that really slowed down progress on a rebelcaptain multi-chapter I am currently working on. I hope you'll enjoy this! 
> 
> Many, many thanks to my beta [stardust425](https://stardust425.tumblr.com/) ❤

_a moment, a love_

_a dream, a laugh_

_a kiss, a cry_

 

[_sweet disposition_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKjOOR9sPU), the temper trap

 

“ _Wait!_ ”

 

The woman's voice startles Cassian out of his daydream. Looking up from his worn sneakers, he sees her running down the already darkened hallway towards the elevator with red cheeks, her boots thundering down the weathered linoleum floor.

 

It almost takes him too long to respond, but just in time Cassian slams his hand against the already closing door of the elevator. Just barely, the woman slips through the gap just before the door noisily slams shut.

 

“Thanks,” she says, out of breath and leaning against the wall. Her brown hair has been pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck but a few strands have come loose, curling a little around her ears. She's a lot shorter than him and looks almost frail.

 

In the five years Cassian has lived here, he has never noticed her. And he prides himself in being observant.

 

“Are you new here?” he asks, curious if she's the one who moved into the apartment three door's down from his.

 

She looks at him with her eyes giving away a hint of surprise and annoyance – they're green, a startling shade of green. Then, she nods but voices no reply.

 

After that, they're quiet as the elevator stutters to life and begins its decent. She hasn't moved to press a button so Cassian assumes she's heading out as well, the light of the ground floor's button flickering a little.

 

Cassian is ready to go back to his daydream, already fumbling through his gym bag for his earphones, when the elevator suddenly jolts, a screeching metal sound filling the small space. The woman gasps, holding on to the rail at the side, and Cassian feels his stomach sinking and his heart skipping a beat for a second before everything goes very still.

 

The flickering light around the ground floor has faded entirely, and a second later, the light above them turns to darkness, as well.

 

“Fuck.”

 

“Are you all right?” The question spills from his lips even as his own heart races at an unhealthy fast pace, adrenaline shooting through his veins without mercy. Sweat dampens the palms of his hands as he tries to find needless purchase against the wall.

 

The small gap between the doors allows for a little light to illuminate the elevator, and as the seconds trickle by, Cassian's eyes slowly adjust.

 

“Don't tell me we're stuck,” the woman exhales, knuckles white where she has her fingers curled around the rail.

 

It's the last thing he wants to admit, but there's no other option.

 

“Seems like it.”

 

“Fantastic,” she groans, reaching out the press the red alarm bell.

 

Nothing happens.

 

She presses it again, a little more insistent this time.

 

Still nothing.

 

“What the hell,” she mutters, and Cassian watches in defeat as she hits the button one, two, three more times. All of them in vain. “Is everything in this place broken? I don't have hot water and when I open the balcony door it falls out of the hinges and yesterday a tile fell from the bathroom wall and almost killed me and now _this_?!”

 

There's a lot of anger bubbling out of such a small person and Cassian might grin in amusement if they weren't currently _stuck in the damn elevator_. A British accent is prominent, too, intriguing and prompting a line of questions he doesn't dare ask her.

 

Not yet.

 

“It's eh-,” Cassian stutters, taking a look around at the cracked mirror and the moldy wallpaper and the stains on the floor. In the end, he sighs and gives her a half-hearted shrug instead. The place has always been a shithole, but over the years he has grown used to it, maybe even a little blind and deaf just to make it more bearable.

 

He never got stuck in the elevator, though, and that definitely feels like the final straw to call the landlord.

 

The woman rolls her eyes, digging through her bag until she fishes out her phone. The screen is cracked in multiple places like a spider's web, and somehow Cassian is not surprised.

 

“Great, no reception. How about you?”

 

When Cassian pulls out his own phone only to find the same result, he's hardly surprised. Almost with a sense of guilt to disappoint her, he shakes his head. What he expects is more cursing, but instead she deflates, sags against the wall. With one last useless press of the alarm bell, she sinks down onto the floor, her knees pressing against her chest.

 

There are tears in her jeans, pale skin peaking through.

 

“I'm sorry,” Cassian murmurs, sitting down across from her. The feeling of panic is persistent, pulsing through his veins and making him hyper aware of the narrow space, of the air vents above their heads. He's never been claustrophobic but that alone doesn't improve this situation much.

 

She looks up at him, her green eyes softer than they were before.

 

“It's not your fault.”

 

For a moment, they are quiet, eyes locked. She's pretty. Her lips full and rosy, her cheeks still glowing a little from the strain of running to the elevator. The shirt she wears is old and from what he can tell, it's got some kind of band print on it. There's a necklace on a black string that disappears beneath the white cotton, but Cassian draws his eyes away quickly. He doesn't want to be rude.

 

“Do you have roommates?” she asks then, her voice softer, less forged of steel, than before. “Anyone who's going to notice you're not home?”

 

He chuckles despite himself.

 

“I live with Kay,” he tells her, smothering the flame of hope in her eyes instantly when he continues. “He's my dog.”

 

“Won't he have to pee and start barking when you don't come back?” she asks, drumming her fingers restlessly against her knees. There's no rhythm to it.

 

Cassian sighs, shaking his head.

 

“He's... a little particular. He'll just hold it in until I come back. Even as a puppy he never- Sorry, that's not important,” he mutters, realizing he's going on and on and she probably doesn't care at all. But she surprises him, a light smile curling her lips.

 

“What kind of dog is he?” she asks, sounding genuinely curious.

 

“Greyhound,” Cassian replies. Still holding his phone in his palm he holds it up, the lock screen showing himself with Kay in all his black, proud glory.

 

The woman smiles. “He's cute.”

 

_Oh, if only she knew._

 

“In his own way,” Cassian murmurs, putting his phone away. It's of no use to them anyway. “So, do _you_ have roommates?”

 

“Bodhi,” she confirms, but the frustration in her voice tells him that this isn't good news. “He's visiting his parents until Friday. And I don't really... know anyone else yet.”

 

The loneliness she allows to shine through resonates between them, a dull and miserable feeling that Cassian is all too familiar with. He's never been good at making friends, gets along well enough with his colleagues but in the five years he has lived here he hasn't really met anyone who mattered.

 

“Doesn't seem like it's our lucky day,” he proclaims, but a voice hidden deep inside of him whispers that perhaps things could be a whole lot worse.

 

“Definitely would seem,” she woman responds, her head falling back against the wall with a dull thud. After a pause, she looks at him again, intently enough to make him squirm a little. Like she's inspecting him. “I'm Jyn, by the way.”

 

_Jyn._

 

He wants to try the taste of the name on his tongue but bites it back.

 

“I'm Cassian,” he offers instead. “Did you move into 75?”

 

“I did,” she sighs, pulling her bag from around her shoulder and dumping it onto the floor by her side. “Guess I should have known the cheap rent was a bad sign.”

 

“I live in 78.”

 

Jyn smiles, but her voice sounds a little defeated when she replies. “We're practically neighbors then.”

 

“Welcome to the building.” Cassian hopes she can detect the hint of sarcasm beneath his words and the smile he offers. Instead, Jyn raises her brows at him, lips pursed – before she breaks out laughing. It's a crystal clear sound that is amplified in the small space. Contagious and irresistible enough to prompt a chuckle from him too.

 

When they grow quiet again, their breaths heaving a little, Jyn's gaze drops down to his bag.

 

“Were you going to the gym?” she asks, eyes lighting up with renewed hope when he nods. “Won't someone there notice you're not coming?”

 

Damn it, he wishes he could give her some good news.

 

“I don't really go that often,” he explains with a grimace, wishing now that he'd be a little more consistent about it. Wishing he would have taken up Kes' offer to get drinks a few times. Maybe the guys would miss him then. Now, nobody is going to bat an eye at the fact that he's not there.

 

“Shit,” Jyn mutters, her fingers almost absent-mindedly tracing alone the necklace that rests against her skin. “So we're going to have to wait until someone notices the elevator is broken?”

 

“Looks like it.”

 

As far as Cassian can tell, they're stuck somewhere around the fourth or fifth floor. Surely someone is going to be out on a Saturday evening. They must be.

 

“Let's hope someone else is as lazy as we are,” Jyn huffs, and when she grins at him, Cassian somehow manages to smile back at her.

 

**\- - - - -**

 

“This is pointless,” Jyn groans in frustration. She's perched on to tips of her boots, stretching to the full length of her body, her outstretched arm holding her phone against the air vents – but there's still no signal. Cassian is doing the same, although it's much easier for him. Roaming the small space of the elevator, he watches his screen, muttering a curse in Spanish under his breath when he has to agree with Jyn.

 

“You're right,” he grunts, lowering his phone and looking at Jyn instead. A mistake, he realizes, when his eyes are drawn to a sliver of pale skin between the waistline of her jeans and where her shirt has ridden up. Quickly, he forces himself to look away. “I'm not getting a signal either.”

 

Defeated, he sinks back down onto the floor, tossing his phone onto his bag.

 

It's been three hours, and so far nobody seems to have noticed that the elevator is stuck. They have called for help, knocked against the door over and over again but the only response they have received is silence.

 

Nobody is waiting for them, not when he so rarely shows at the gym and Jyn only meant to make a quick trip to the grocery store down the road. It's a sad thought, Cassian has to admit, that something much worse could have happened and would have largely gone unnoticed.

 

Jyn finally gives up, pushing her phone into her jeans pocket before sitting down again – next to Cassian this time. There's still a foot of space between them, and considering the limited amount of space she's not even really that much closer than before. Still, his heart skips a beat.

 

“We're just going to die in here and one day someone complains about the elevator, then they'll find our corpses. I guess nobody's going to complain about the stench,” Jyn mutters, tapping her foot against the ground in a rhythm that is entirely her own.

 

She's not wrong.

 

“I have to be at work on Monday, and if I don't show my boss will check things out,” Cassian explains, and it's sad to think that the only reason they might get rescued is because of Draven's complete and utter lack of tolerance. He'd probably drag him out of the elevator himself, half-dead and dehydrated.

 

“Great,” Jyn snorts, nudging her elbow into his side like that is something they do regularly. “So we only have to spend two days in here. Fun.”

 

The growl of Jyn's stomach interrupts Cassian before he can make a remark, the sound almost obscenely loud in the small space. Jyn grimaces, pulling her knees up to her chest again.

 

“You're hungry,” Cassian points out, already reaching out towards his bag and rummaging through his spare set of clothes, water bottle, and wallet until he finds what he's been looking for. The protein bar crinkles as he holds it out for Jyn, chocolate-flavored and equal to a five course meal right about now.

 

“That's yours,” Jyn says, waving her hand in dismissal. “I'm fine.”

 

Having expected her to decline, Cassian scoots a little closer to her, tearing open the foil. He won't admit defeat so easily.

 

“We can share,” he suggests, pulling out the bar and breaking it in half. It's an uneven split and he doesn't hesitate to hand her the larger half – she takes it cautiously and with a weary expression. As close as she is to him now, he can make out the curl of her long lashes and the slightly smudged eyeliner, the barely-there dusting of freckles on her nose and cheeks, and the minuscule cut on her upper lip.

 

“Thanks,” she whispers, quiet and humble and there's a gentleness to the way her fingers curl over his palm as she takes his offering. It's not much and won't last them long, but there's an apple somewhere in his bag and a packet of gums. All of which he's more than willing to share.

 

He waits until Jyn takes a first small bite, watches the way her eyes flutter shut as she savors it. “This is good,” she hums, her tongue darting out to catch a few crumbs left on her lower lip. After that, she is quicker, finishing most of her portion before Cassian is done chewing his first bite. Reaching into his bag, he pulls out the water bottle, but Jyn shakes her head.

 

“I'll just end up having to pee, and then what?” she asks with a frown and Cassian can't help but laugh through his mouthful of food.

 

“All right, fair point.”

 

**\- - - - -**

 

“Ehm... favorite.... ice cream flavor!”

 

God, he wishes she'd stop making these questions about food. His stomach grumbles on cue, a painful tug deep down that is getting harder to ignore. It's long past midnight now and the protein bar and apple they'd shared only lasted so long.

 

Just thinking about a nice big scoop of ice cream makes Cassian's mouth water.

 

“Cherry,” he replies, practically feeling it melt on his tongue, ripe and tangy and sweet. “Yours?”

 

“Mint chocolate chip.”

 

He frowns in disgust, recalling the one and only time he tried that particular flavor, a long time ago. “Disgusting.”

 

“It is _not,_ ” Jyn insists, lightly kicking her foot against his. She doesn't pull away. “Your turn.”

 

With his forehead in creases, Cassian tries to come up with another question. After a while, it's turning out to be a difficult task. In such a short amount of time, he's already learned so much about Jyn just in order to pass the time, but still he feels like there are limitations to what he can ask.

 

“What's your favorite season?” he asks eventually, distracted by the pressure of her foot against his ankle.

 

“What kind of a question is that?” she huffs, staring at their reflection in the cracked mirror with a tilted head, deep in thought for a moment. With only Jyn's phone on the ground between them shedding some light, they have become silhouettes in the dark. Cassian lets her think, doesn't push for an answer. They play hard but if she wanted to decline a question he'd accept it without a fight. “I don't know, what's yours?”

 

“Summer.” The reply is instantaneous, slipping past his lips as easy as an exhale. “It reminds me of home.”

 

Shit, he shouldn't have said that, regrets letting that slip almost the second the words are out there between them. Jyn is looking at him, her gaze burning his skin no matter how hard he tries to avoid it.

 

“Where _is_ home?”

 

All humor has drained from Jyn's voice, replaced by a quiet and tender cautiousness. Suddenly, her foot against his isn't teasing, it's a support. Still, the question cuts like a knife, tears open old wounds he thought healed long ago. It's not an easy question to answer, not even for himself. Whatever the answer is, he has not grasped it yet, not fully.

 

“It's not your turn yet,” he chokes instead, a weak twitch of the corner of his lips accompanying the words. Jyn doesn't look offended when he's brave enough to look at her again.

 

“Spring,” she breathes softly, and he can imagine her in the green grass and the first morning dew. “It's my turn now.”

 

His nod is slow, it's an effort. Nervously, he kneads his hands in his lap, feels the coarseness of his skin and the healing cut across his palm. There's a long story to tell to truly answer her question, one that he has never shared with anyone. Right here, right now, stuck in this confined space with Jyn like a world of their own, he's almost tempted to simply let the words spill, to pour his story, his sadness, his losses out into the world.

 

She'd hold them gently, he is so sure of that.

 

But he cannot do it, cannot form the words and all that escapes his lips is a strangled “I don't know. I don't.”

 

His voice fractures, the words hoarse and almost unintelligible but Jyn accepts them the way they are. Slowly, she rests her cheek on the knee of the leg she still has propped up, facing him. Fatigue is plain to see in the shadows beneath her eyes and the heaviness of her features.

 

“I don't know, either,” she confesses in a whisper so fragile it feels secret and precious. Somehow, it hurts more to think of her as lost and rootless than it does to accept his own similar fate.

 

He exhales slowly, presses his foot a little more intently against hers in silent comfort.

 

**\- - - - -**

 

“How is he so massive?” Jyn's eyes are wide as she marvels at the picture of Kay and Cassian on his phone, two large front paws on Cassian's shoulders making Kay the same height. It's one of his favorite pictures and he has a printed version of it framed on the wall in his apartment, but can't bring himself to delete it from his phone.

 

“I don't know,” Cassian replies, swiping to the next picture of a sleeping Kay on the couch. His phone's battery is almost dead, but he'll keep going until Jyn tells him to stop or the screen fades to black. “When I got him he was this small,” he recalls, holding out his hands to demonstrate. He'd been tiny enough to curl up in his arms then. Now, when he shares the bed with Cassian, there's hardly room to breathe.

 

“I got him from a shelter, they rescued him from some guy. He had almost sixty dogs, it was a mess.” Anger flashes across Jyn's face, and the same anger is reflected in Cassian's eyes. He never quite knew the extant of what Kay suffered as a small puppy, but just the thought is enough to make his fingers twitch and a restless energy to drive him mad. “A lot of them didn't make it.”

 

“Did they lock the guy up?” Jyn asks, leaning closer to look down at the phone where Cassian just swiped to a picture of Kay proudly sitting next to his new toy - a sturdy white creature with a helmet that he'd torn apart in a minute and a half.

 

Cassian shrugs, remembering how overwhelmed the people at the shelter had been. All the dogs in the kennels, whining and crying, had almost tempted him to take more than one. But the apartment isn't very big, and even one dog alone had seemed like a commitment he was not quite ready for at the time. “I don't know what happened, they couldn't really tell me much.”

 

Most days, he's convinced it's better for him and Kay to not know too much. Kay is... special, and there's no denying that whatever trauma he endured so young has shaped him into the character he is today. Stoic but unbroken, fiercely loyal but lost in his own world.

 

Jyn purses her lips for a moment before smiling down at a picture of Cassian with a straw hat that Kes had taken at work a few months back. Cassian is quick to try and close it, but the damage is already done. But the tease he expected never comes.

 

“At least Kay's happy now,” Jyn says instead. “Maybe I can meet him one day.”

 

They are neighbors, so running into each other eventually seems inevitable. But the way Jyn has strung her words together, the way the timbre of her voice has shifted, makes him believe that she's talking about something a little more arranged. Something a little more... personal, and the thought is terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

 

But before Cassian can say anything, Jyn yawns. Not even her halfhearted attempt at pressing her hand to her face can hide it.

 

“You should get some sleep,” he murmurs, putting down his phone with one last glance at the time. It's close to two and suddenly he's overwhelmed by how tired he is himself. Eyes heavy and body weary. “I'll stay up and listen if someone walks by.”

 

Someone has to notice them, he's still holding on to that hope. It's foolish, perhaps, but for their sake he has to.

 

When Jyn determinedly shakes her head, he's hardly surprised. “No, it's okay,” she reassures him, trying to downplay her fatigue. “It's better if we both listen.”

 

She's not entirely wrong, he can admit that to himself. And on a Saturday night, there should be a high chance of someone coming back from a party or a late shift at work. But so far luck has failed them and he'd rather she catch some sleep than wait around in vain.

 

“Jyn-,” he starts, but she's quick to interrupt him.

 

“Wake me up then,” she suggests, and he's surprised she's giving in. “In a bit? And then you can sleep.” There's something... sweet about the fact she's trying to make things equal for them. It doesn't seem like a word she'd associate with herself but he cannot help how accurate it feels.

 

Her expression, however, is like cut marble, full of determination and he knows he stands no chance against her. “All right,” he sighs, trying to suppress a grin. She's stubborn and seems a little wild and getting to know her is a challenge he'll gladly accept if he's given the chance. Something tells him she's not allowing very many people this close.

 

“Promise?” she asks with raised brows, clearly having seen right through him without any pretense.

 

He gives her a soft nod. “Promise.”

 

For a moment, she looks up at him, the faint blue light from her phone making her skin look almost translucent. Then, when she has found the reassurance that she has been looking for, she takes him completely by surprise. What little space remained between them is easily breached when she scoots closer to him, close enough for her leg to press against his. Her head sinks slowly to his shoulder, her bun now a complete frizzy and tangled mess. The warmth of her cheek seeps through his shirt and burns his skin in the most wonderful way.

 

“Good night, Jyn,” he breathes, his breath hitching in his throat as he fights the urge to wrap his arm around her and pull her even closer into his side. Maybe she wouldn't mind, and would sink into his embrace. But doubt eats away at him along with fear that he'll only end up pushing her away. Still, he is touch starved and _god_ , he's lonely. It took running into Jyn to figure that out, and so he leans just a little into her, just a little more.

 

“Good night,” she murmurs, the vibrations of her voice penetrating his skin and sending a shiver down his spine. For a few minutes, they sit in silence with even breaths, interrupted only by the soft stir of Jyn when she leans a little further into him or shifts her weight. “Cassian?” she whispers then, quiet enough not to startle him.

 

By now, it's easy to tell how hard it will be for him to stay awake. Even talking seems too exhausting. “Hmm?” he hums instead, looking down at the crown of her head and the way her hands linger in her lap.

 

“I'm glad I'm stuck here with you.”

 

**\- - - - -**

 

“Cassian.”

 

The sound of his name is a far-away echo. Hazy and beautiful like the call of the wild but he cannot grasp it. Then, something grasps him instead. Curls around him, twists and turns and tosses and- “Cassian, wake up.”

 

“Wha-” He jolts awake with a gasp, eyes wide. For a brief moment, he's panicked and confused when he sees himself and a stranger in a mirror, when he feels the numbness in his legs and the ache in his lower back. “Oh,” he murmurs when his brain catches up, when his heart slows down. He fell asleep. “Shit. I'm sorry, I didn't-”

 

Jyn's hand on his chest silences him, her thumb drawing a circle there. “It's okay,” she says softly, looking almost amused as if she knew exactly he wouldn't be able to quite keep his promise. He doesn't know when she pressed her palm to his chest or when his arm wrapped around her shoulder, when he tilted down enough to rest his cheek against the crown of her head because even now that he has pulled away he can feel the imprints of her hair tickling his skin.

 

Only a few inches of space remain between them, the apology he'd been ready to give lost. Instead, he's losing himself in her eyes and her curious, shy smile. She appears just as surprised, just as confused, just as... content as he is.

 

“I- ehm...,” he stutters, wondering what he could say, what he could ask to prolong this moment, to never let go of it. His fingers ghost up and down the length of her bare arm, her skin prickling with goosebumps under his touch. “Do you think you'd-”

 

“Wait, did you hear that?” she interrupts him, and from one second to the next she's out of his arms with wide eyes, leaving him to feel cold and lonely and- then he hears it. Loud footsteps, voices mingling outside.

 

“Hello!” they both call at the same time, scrambling onto their feet and towards the door. Fists bang against the metal, loud and louder and for a moment, Cassian forgets what he wanted so say to her. “ _Help!_ ”

 

**\- - - - -**

 

It takes another hour before they are finally free. An hour of yelling at the people in the hallway, of those people getting help, of rummaging and prying and flickering lights until _finally_ the doors are opened and they are pulled outside. Jyn goes first, reluctantly so, and Cassian tosses up her bag before he follows.

 

Outside in the hallway, the morning light is as bright and unforgiving as the darkness of the elevator had been, but the air is remarkably crisp and fresh. He inhales deeply, eyes closing for a moment as he stretches his arms.

 

They both decline medical assistance and their landlord's frantic phone call about insurance and lawyers, ready to deal with that another day. It takes another hour before the hallway clears, before it's just the two of them next to the elevator door - sealed shut and with an 'out of order' sign plastered to it.

 

Jyn's eyes meet his, and he hesitantly takes a step closer. “You wanted to say something. Earlier.”

 

Cassian's mouth feels dry, and not solely because he's barely had anything to drink for hours. He'd almost hoped that she forgot, that he could slip away unnoticed and spare himself the shame.

 

“Right,” he says, hands balling into fists. Standing in the middle of the hallway he feels exposed and vulnerable and it costs him all his courage to look Jyn in the eyes when he speaks. Its a risk, it's daring and most likely stupid but what's life going to be like if he never takes any chances?

 

“I was wondering if maybe... you'd want to come up? Meet Kay. Have breakfast?”

 

If anybody saw them right now, they'd probably make a pathetic sight. Standing a few feet apart, petrified and skittish as baby deer.

 

“Well....,” Jyn starts, and as she trails off into silence Cassian prepares himself for the pain of her inevitable rejection. “I do.”

 

His eyes widen just as hers light up, disbelief hitting him like a wave.

 

“But I'm going to piss my pants in a minute so... I'll be there in twenty?”

 

She's smiling at him, the most genuine curl of her lips he has seen yet, and when her words register he bursts out laughing. His own bladder isn't much kinder and he could do with a change of clothes and a brush of his teeth, and Kay will be so mad at him, will need fresh water and food and at least a quick walk.

 

“Deal,” he chuckles, suddenly feeling lighter. His feet move without much prompting from him, step by step towards Jyn who is doing the same. Like magnets they circle each other, pulled towards each other.

 

“Deal,” she repeats, softer this time, the moment lingering.

 

When she finally pulls away and hurries towards the stairs, Cassian looks after her. The way her now loose hair cascades down her back.

 

“Welcome home,” he murmurs, to her or himself, to them. It's inaudible for now, but he can feel the words echo and settle deep in his heart.

 

Maybe, one day soon, they'll both know the true meaning of the word _home_.

 


End file.
